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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

A little history for the 1925 Broadmoor Polo Association Foxhall Keene Trophy Pitcher

Earlier this year, I happened across this wonderful
trophy in the shape of a pitcher at a local flea market.When I first saw it on the shelf, I didn’t
see the engraving on the side.When I
read what it said, I got to wondering about who Foxhall Keene and what the
Broadmoor was.I loved it, and purchased
it.

The first thing to do is to look at the pitcher itself.It was made by the Wilcox Silver plate
Company, and dates to the 1910’s to 1920’s.This helps solidify the date that’s on the pitcher, so the next thing to
do is to figure out what the Broadmoor was.

Just what was or is the Broadmoor?The Broadmoor is a hotel and resort that’s
located in Colorado Springs, Colorado.The original hotel is Broadmoor Main, and it was
built in 1918.The resort has had hockey
and golf championships, and there’s even polo that is played there.

There’s only one question left for this trophy—just who
in the world is Foxhall Keene?

Foxhall Keene was quite the competitor.He was a golfer who competed in the
U.S. Open, an amateur tennis player, and he was
also a pioneer race car driver who vied for the Gordon Bennett Cup (this
was a racing cup that ran from 1900 to 1905 with several clubs racing for it).

Not only did he do all this, he was also an American thoroughbred race horse owner and breeder.To top it off, he was a world and Olympic
gold medalist in polo.Not only that, he was rated the best
all-around polo player in the United States for eight consecutive years.

And that’s where the trophy comes into play.When the Broadmoor started to play Polo at
the resort, they named this trophy after Foxhall Keene because he was so
accomplished in polo.

It’s always fun for me to find out what the history of a
piece is, like this trophy.You can see
they trophy in my Etsy shop here.

What kinds of finds have you run across that you
have found out the history of?